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| PM Netanyahu & a woman of the wall (Jerusalem Post) |
What’s that you say? You don’t see the word fish in ‘ghoti’? Well, it’s there. You’re just not thinking out of the box. ‘gh as in the word ‘cough’ ‘o’ as in the word ‘women’, and ‘ti’ as in the word ‘nation’.
See? Not that hard and quite legitimate. If it’s perfectly
legitimate, then why not spell it that way… at least sometimes? After all
variety is the spice of life. The answer is because it’s not normal. Most
people wouldn’t necessary see anything but a word that starts with hard ‘g’ and
sounds like a kind of beard.
I bring this up in the context of normalcy in Judaism. In my view it is
important to be as normal as possible in society if for no other reason that it
just makes us all easier to understand and get along.
Which brings me to 21st century version of
feminism that has infiltrated Orthodoxy to such an extent that it places normalcy on its head.
The goal of feminism is to equalize
men and women in every possible category. The only limitation is where it is a
physical impossibility. And on the surface their argument makes sense. As long
as there is no physical limitation, why not allow women to do anything a man
can?
So now – as announced recently by Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter – we have the spectacle in America of allowing women to serve in combat
positions together with men. As long as they pass the various military training programs. The
argument goes, ‘Why not? As long as a woman can do what a man can do in battle,
shouldn’t she have the same right to die for our country as men do?
Fair point. But what about men and women serving in the military living and sleeping in close proximity? Many of them are married and spend months at a time away from their spouses. Is there no fear that nature will take its course?
It is also no secret that sexual harassment is up in the armed services. Is there no connection to the fact that they now serve together and are subject to a command structure that puts women subordinates at a tremendous disadvantage? Is this going to help matters?
And another thing. Let us take this argument to its logical
conclusion. In theory one can have an entire battalion of women being sent to
war zones like Syria (should the US decide to put boots on the ground there).
And by the same token we could see men staying home taking care of the kids. Why
not? There are after all a lot of stay
at home fathers. So, what the big deal if the women do the fighting and the men
stay home? As long as all are willing?
Is this the kind of world we want to live in? Where in theory women do our fighting for us? I guess if you
are a dyed in the wool feminist you are OK with that. But this is not in any way be normal. Should we change the way we live just
because a few women think it’s OK. Even if the arguments they make are logical?
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Feminisits will argue that what is ‘normal’ today was not so
normal not that long ago. Like the right for women to vote. Now it is taken for
granted and very normal. We all got used to it. And we’ll get used to female armies
- if that is how the military evolves. But is there no difference between a man
and a woman except in some of their body parts? What about psychological gender
differences? is there any dispute that there are psychological differences between men and women?
But feminists will argue that there are exceptions - why
shouldn’t we accommodate them? Why not let
people do whatever they want as long as they don’t hurt anyone else?
The answer is that it does hurt someone else. It hurts those
of us that do not want to change tradition just because there are some
exceptions to the rule.
Orthodox feminists have been seduced to the draw of egalitarian
argument. Wherever there is the slightest opening Halachicly for a woman to
tread where she has never tread before, Orthodox feminists insist on it as a
matter of egalitarian fairness and equality. That most Orthodox Jews (including
most Orthodox women) might reject the idea as it applies to Judaism doesn’t
matter to them. The egalitarian ideal is all that matters.
Which brings me to a recent decision by the Prime Minister
of Israel about the Women of the Wall (WoW). The status quo will remain and
they will not be able to read from a Torah
scroll at the Kotel. Something they have been seeking for a long time. Although
WoW is not an Orhtodox movement, there are some Orthodox women involved. And
Orhtodox feminists see this is a blow to their goals.
It doesn’t matter to them that it upsets the sensibilities
of the vast majority of Orhtodox Jews – both men and women who see this as an
abnormal breach from tradition. For Wow and Orhtodox feminists it is a denial of
what they consider a fundamental egalitarian right. Everyone else be damned!
It is probably true that this was a politically motivated
move by the Prime Minister who is catering to the ultra-Orthodox factions of
his coalition government. But it was the right call to respect the sensibilities
of the vast majority of Jews that visit the Kotel and not to cater to a small
group of women more inter4sted in their ‘rights’ than they are about how it upsets
the religious women that pray at the Kotel the most. What was not the right
call is how WoW charcterzied it. From the Jerusalem Post:
Apparently when Netanyahu spoke of ‘all’ Jews in November 2015, he forgot that women make up half of all Jews,” WOW said. No Israeli Prime Minister has the right to take away Torah from half of all Jews…”
This is one of the problems with 21st century feminism. They
assume to be speaking for all women, when in fact they are speaking only for
a very small group of women. The percentage of
women that care about reading a Torah scroll at the Kotel is probably so minuscule, you can probably count them on the
fingers of one hand (OK, maybe both hands…an maybe you toes as well. Point being
that they are a very small group.)
The vast majority of Jewish women in the
world will probably never visit the Kotel even once in their entire lives. For those that do,it is basically a tourist attraction. Most of them won’t have any interest in participating in a
Torah reading at the Kotel (except maybe as a curiosity).
That said, it is probably also true that a many non feminist Orthodox
women (and men) will say, just let them do it – even though they would not do
it themselves. What’s the harm? Why make a mountain out of a molehill if
the numbers are that small? Protests about it just gives them more publicity.
The answer is that it is not normal and upsets the mainstream that frequents
the Kotel - praying in traditional ways. Not to mention the fact that virtually
all rabbinic leaders are opposed to it. (Not that this matters to WoW.)
What about those members of WOW that are sincere in wanting to
serve God in this non-traditional way… a way that uplifts them spiritually in
ways that traditional service to God does not?
But, even if that’s true should they have the right to do it
at the expense of someone else’s comfort? Is this the only way they can be
uplifted? Is there no other avenue for a woman to express her devotion to God? Do
they feel that God’s mandated role for them is not enough? Do they feel that
God short-changed them?
I happen to believe that God did not short change women
in the role He has given them. Maybe the women that do feel shortchange
spiritually - being denied their ‘right’ to read a Torah scroll should speak to
the other women that pray regularly at the Kotel and see why they are uplifted without
that ‘right’. Maybe they will learn
something.
